The Jackson Trail by Max Brand

Author:Max Brand [Brand, Max]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Western
Publisher: Roy Glashan's Library
Published: 2017-06-10T22:00:00+00:00

* * *

CHAPTER XXIII

WHEN Jackson was free of the village, he put the gray into a long, raking canter and did not draw up until he approached a nest of poplar trees at a culvert. There he drew rein and whistled.

Red-headed Pete immediately stepped into view and blinked at the rider.

“How are the boys?” asked Jackson.

“Sleepin’,” said Pete. “They’re done in. I’d be sleepin’, too, except that my nerves have got the jumps. I’d like to have about a quart of red-eye to quiet me down!”

“Boy,” said Jackson, “you’re going to have enough jack to buy a whole tank full of red-eye, before you’re through with this. Have you got everything else that you want?”

“Ay,” said Pete, “except a free trail!”

“You want the world with a fence around it,” said Jackson. “What’s the matter with you, Pete? If there’s a marshal and a posse looking for the three of you—and me—it’s all the more reason why we should enjoy our riding. That’s the salt in the egg, Pete. You can’t eat eggs without salt, can you?”

Pete grinned dubiously back at his employer.

“All right,” he said. “I know you, Jackson. At least, I know the title page and how the first chapter begins of you. I guess nobody else knows much more. What’s the news?”

“I think that I’ve located the girl again,” said Jackson.

“Hey! Near here?”

“Yes. At a place owned by a fellow named Tucker. Out yonder on the Dole Road. I may be wrong. I’m taking a long step. But I have an idea that I’m right.”

“You mostly are,” said Pete. “I never thought that you’d pick her up again this quick. But if she’s there, maybe the marshal is there, too.”

“No, not as soon as this,” said Jackson, with conviction. “Not unless she’s told him where she went.”

“Do we ride that way with you?”

“Wait till the boys have had their sleep out,” said Jackson. “Then you trail along up the road. Cut over yonder off the main trail. I can see cowpaths through those hills. Ride over yonder, and I’ll try to pick you up before dark.”

Pete scratched his head.

“Listen, chief,” said he. “Mostly you’re right. But whacha gain by trailin’ around after a girl that’s turned you down? Ain’t it better sense for you to take the three of us and turn us onto a job where there’s real money to play for?”

Jackson listened in patience. Then he said:

“Let me work my own trail, Pete. Do what I’ve told you. Do you want higher pay?”

“Me?” said Pete. “Higher pay for just settin’ around with nothing to do but to dodge a few slugs of lead, a couple of times a day? Why, Jackson, we’ve hardly got enough to do to keep us warm. All we’ve got to do, mostly, is to keep from bein’ turned cold forever.”

Jackson smiled.

“Do what I said,” he suggested. “Remember, Pete, that there’s a bonus for you, all three, when I finish with you, and a bonus that will make your head swim.”

He left Pete with these instructions and sent the gray at the same long canter sweeping up the road.

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